BERLIN | German police, city officials probed over Italian mob ties

BERLIN — Prosecutors in western Germany say they are investigating five current and former police and municipal officials on suspicion that they passed information to Italian mobsters or their helpers.

The dpa news agency reported that prosecutors in Duisburg said Thursday the five include two police officers and an employee of Wesseling, a town outside Cologne. They are being investigated on suspicion of breaching official secrecy laws. Prosecutors declined to elaborate on the type of information that was allegedly leaked.

The disclosure came a day after police in four European countries arrested at least 84 suspected mobsters in a series of carefully coordinated raids. Those detained, who included 14 in Germany, allegedly work for the Italian ‘ndrangheta criminal network that prosecutors say traffics in cocaine and launders money on a global scale.